The Youngest Agent
by Lolazaz
Summary: What happens when a very young agent arrives in Blood Gulch?
1. Arrival

As she layed on the ground, the young warrior's EVA helmet was trying to assess the situation. Crashed ship. Wounds sustained. She tried to move her head to lookaround, but the whole world swirled, making her slightly sick. Was that fresh grass she could smell? She could feel a burning light, beaming down on her from a vastly clear, blue sky, without a cloud in sight.

She heard footsteps from somewhere, but they were so muffled, she couldn't make out where they were from. Blurs of what appeared to be shades of blue whirled around her vision. She tried reaching out towards them, but her arms and hands wouldn't respond. The shades of blue merged with the luminous blue sky, before turning into darkness, as she passed out.

She woke up in what seemed to be a training facility room, on a bed. The room looked familiar with bland, grey concrete walls, with a single window, which was closed by a single steel shutter.

The bed she was laying on, wasn't exactly comfortable, but wasn't the worst bed in the world. On the wall infront of her, was a door that was wide open, showing a shower room, with a single shower head, and a few empty shelves for shower gels and those sort of things.

On the wall to her right, was a closed door, and nothing else. She half expetced someone to come through the door and start shouting at her, for crashing in this place.

The first thought that ran through her head wasn't any of her injuries. It was whether her armour had been taken of. It took her a few seconds to realise she still had her EVA helmet on, which was booting up. She let out a sigh of relief._ Just as long as no one saw my face._

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, wincing at the pain. _Well, at least the heailng unit healed most of my injuries, and I don't have a pounding headache._ She looked around at her surroundings, wondering where she was. It definatly wasn't where she neeeded to be.

Faint voices could be heard bickering through the door, but wasn't loud enough to hera the whole conversation. She picked up a few words the most common words were 'ship', 'crash' and 'dumbass'. She picked up at least 3 different voices.

The door swung open and Caboose walked through wearing his blue armour but without his helmet. _Is that the simulation troop blue armour?_

He had long, shaggy blonde hair, with green eyes to match. His eyes widenined at the sight of her and a grin smothered his entire face.

"Hi! Are you feeling better?" he asked.

"Compared to earlier? Yeah. Much. How did I get here?" she asked.

"Your ship crashed. Can't you remeber? That happens to me sometimes. Once I hurt my head, and now I can't remember that much."

"I know my ship crashed, I meant in here. Last thing I remember before passing out, was that I was laying on the ground injured."

"I carried you of course! You were just laying out there on the grass to be found by the red meanie man!" _Meanie red man? He seems a bit slow. This must be the simulation training base. _

" My name is Michael J. Caboose! What is your name?"

" Agen-Julie. Julie Harper. Nice to meet you!"_ That was close. Too close._

"I think Church would like to meet you, now that you have finished nap time."_Church? Must be the AI. There's no way that sick bastard's here._

"Who's Church?"

"Church? How could you not know who he is?! He's the Captain of the blue team but more importantly, my best friend in the whole world!" as he said that, his voice peaked at the end.

"But Tucker tries to hang around with Church and tries to stop being friends with me" _Let me guess, another idiot on the team._

"Tucker?"

"He's an idiot. Don't listen to him. Church? Church! Come here! Miss nice Harper has finished nap time!" he yelled out.

"I like your green armour by the way! Very...greeny!"

"Thanks?" Harper had no idea what to say to him after that comment.


	2. Meeting

"Miss nice Harp? What the fuck? Dumbass..." _That must be Tucker._

Another soldier walked through, but this time in a lighter blue colour. As soon as he saw Harper, he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Do I know you?" he asked. _Shit. He kind of remembers me. Act casual. Act like we've never met._

"Nope. I just got here silly!" _Silly? What the fuck brain?_

"Yeah...Why do I feel like I've met you before? Oh well, I get it all the time. Really weird cases of Déjà vu. Anyway, welcome to the blue base. Harp?"

"Harper actually. I guess 'Miss Nice Harp' is Caboose's nickname for me." _So close. He didn't remeber anything. Is he the AI though? Couldn't be the Alpha._

Harper was so lost in thought that when Church spoke, it startled her.

"Not any rules here apart from 1. Don't kill the Captain-that's me! Haven't found anyone who can follow that order. Let's hope you're different." As he said that, he kept pointing at Harper, making her uncomfortable.

_Kill him? Shouldn't that meen he's dead? Definatley an AI. He can probably jump to robots. Maybe he can jump through radios like Omega._

"Sure thing Church..." Harper trailed off.

"She smells funny..." Caboose moaned.

"Oh! That's a point! Do you wanna take a shower after that crash? You sure need it...I'll make sure Tucker isn't crawling aournd. The last thing you want is him sneaking around to take a peek if you know what I mean," _Is he suggesting what I think he is? That Tucker guy may be a bit of a problem. Need to keep an eye out for him._

"A shower? That would be great! Are there any show gels and stuff?"

" In this one there should be some shower gels but no shampoo. Sorry" Church trailed off.

"It's fine! I'm grateful for that! What about towels? Are there any towels?"

"Are you kidding me? Showers with no towels? What do you think we are? Primates?" He had raised his voce, and Harper had cowered back a little, afraid.

"Sorry, I get a bit frustrated sometimes, and you made me think of Caboose. Towels are in the cupboard in the shower room. Take your time." _I can definitley see the Director part of him. He has the same short temper and the same raised tone._

"Ok, thanks! Nice meeting you two." She tried not to sound slightly scared.

Church started walking out, but Caboose's visor was fixed on Harper, as if trying to figure something out. Either that, or read her mind. His whole body was facing Harper and Harper hadn't noticed.

_How long has he been doing that? What is he even doing? Trying to read my mind? Picturing me naked? Wait,what? I'm disgusted by my own thoughts. Who knew? _

"Come on Caboose, she's going to have her shower, and you can talk to her later on."

Caboose snapped out of his trance and grinned at Harper, before walking out and closing the door.

_This is going to be harder than I thought. _

Harper walked over to the shower room, her heavy boots cluncking on the floor and weighing her down.

The shower room had blank grey tiles all over, even on the ceiling. A single cupboard was on the right side of the room, hung above a single sink and mirror. On the center wall was a shower head with a control panel next to it, with many buttons and knobs.

She plodded her way over to the sink, and took of her EVA helmet, to show the face of an exhausted 16 year old.

Her eyes were Hazel brown and sunk into her skull, with large black rings under them, showing how truly tired she was. Strings of greasy black hair hung infront of her face, the rest were tied up in a ponytail at the back, barely keeping together. She had a birthmark on her right cheek since birth, and looked like a brown blob on her face.

She stared at her self for a while, just wondering what her life would've been like if she hadn't been forced into project Freelancer. Mabye because he wanted to test AI on a growing and developing mind. Maybe some other experiment. Who knew?

_He fucked up my life. He ruined my future. I have nothing left. No friends, no family,absolutly nothing. I have no talents, or skills in anything, apart from my combat skills. My stealth skills. All the skills a little girl shouldn't know. If it wasn't for him, I would still have a life, like a normal 16 year old. Go out, go shopping, have fun, but no. He came and took me away from all was a twisted Leonard Church._


	3. Harper's History

She was only a small girl. Around 7 years old. She had been forced to live in care all her life, as she was orphaned at birth, with no clue to who her real parents were. She wasn't the type to ponder on it for hours on end, and wasn't desperate to find out who they were, but she would imagine what her family were like, brothers, sisters, parents.

The Director saw that, and thought it would be a good asset to the perfect soldier, not worrying about family. He wanted to test AI on young subjects, and the effects it would have on such a young mind, but never got the chance to as Project Freelancer fell apart before he had the chance to.

Somehow, the Director managed to pull her away from everyday life, without causing an uproar. She would ask what she was for, what her purpose in the Project was, and he would always reply 'You are the future, and the future must be prepared for whats to come'. She didn't understand what it meant at the time, but she acted like it was important, so she tried her best.

The first few years she didn't have any armour, it was just simple training, punches, kicks, the easy stuff, but as she progressed, she was given her armour, she didn't get to choose what armour she had, but wore it none the less.

Harper was unusually tall, intelligent and agile for her age and had a very curious personality, but the Director had stripped her of everything, she was secluded from the whole world and had no one to talk to. She would talk to the Counsellor, but she couldn't really strike up a casuall conversation with him. She was alone for most of the Project.

For years, she was trained. Combat, stealth, piloting, you name it. When she began, people asked the driector why he had picked up such a young girl, why he had chosen a girl of her age. Over the years, she began to develop her skills. She would often beat the training programme, Often, she would hear the Director saying that she almost rivalled an agent called Carolina, but she found out who she who that was. She didn't know anyone.

Every now and then, she would be taught normal school lessons, but only the basics, maths, english and science, and she wasn't taught that much of it. In the first year of training, she would wonder what life was like for a normal person, but the Director stripped her of personality. He trained her to think like a soldier constantly, and that's all she knows now. She never really got to find out who she really was. She never got to feel freedom, to feel part of a family, to be normal.

When Project Freelancer disappated, she had no where to go, no one to talk to, no clue of where to go next. She was only young, and was found by the authorities, and saw what the Director had done. They had ruined a young girl's life. Her , they questioned her about what she knew about the Project and realised that she was had decided to let her keep what she had, her armour, and let her go. There was nothing they could do for her.

She didn't know what happened to Project Freelancer, about what mast it crash and burn, apart from that there were huge disputes over the top agents, and that some of the AI were 'damaged'.She wasn't told about what the Director did to Alpha, and his crimes. The Director had said to her that at some point she was going to have an AI implanted into her head, but she never did.

After the Prohect, she worked as a hired assassin. What else could she do? Her face was hidden by her helmet, and her unusual hight stopped people from being curious. She went by the name of Mezza. Many people knew her name for all the bad reasons.

She was skilled, but barely got by, going hungry and broke most of the time. She slept in hotel rooms and barely stayedin the same place. Harper had to keep on the move incase she was found and caught. What would people say?

She always tried to forget what happened, but it was hard. It was like it was hardwired into her brain, and she didn't have th programme to undo it. It's hard to forget the one who ruined you life, the one who destroyed your hope.


	4. Encounters

Harper finished staring at her reflection, and turned around slowly, and faced the door. She took a few steps towards it, reached her hand out to the handle and pushed the door closed. _The door better stay closed_.

After one last look at her weary face, she slowly began peeling off her armour, bit by bit, staring with her chest piece, and finishing with her feet. She stood in her under amour suit, and slipped out of it carefully, trying not to fall over. She was left in a white tank top and black fabric shorts.

_It's about time I had a shower. Can't remember the last time I had a hot shower._

Her body had bruises all over, particularly on her torso and legs. _Probably from the crash_.

She got undressed, and a slight breeze tickled her skin, making it prickle. _ Never realise how hot that suit actually was. _

She stepped into the designated are for the shower, and was about to push the power button on the shower control panel, when she heard a noise behind her, kind of like someone tripping over.

"Hello? Any one there?" She slowly backed up into the corner, trying to hide from whoever was there. She hit the freezing cold tiles behind her, and just slid down to the floor. She didn't care how cold it was, she just curled up in a ball, eyes wide open and alert. Her heart started thumping like horse hooves. _He taught me better than this. Don't be afraid. He helped me in a few ways I guess. I can kick anyone ass if they come in here. Kind of._

"Tucker? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? I told you to leave her alone! Just leave her alone alright? What part of that don't you understand?!" Church was raising his voice so much that to Harper, it was like he was right next to her. _Tucker was trying to have a peek at me! How could he?_

"Oh, Church...I just wanted to take a peak, she's the first girl here, that isn't a complete and total bitch, although there was Sister...I wonder if Harper is as big as Sister…You know you wanna find out! Admit it!" _Sister? Who's she and where is she now? What have they done to her? Don't panic. Keep calm. Breathe. I'm sure she's fine._

"I'm not even going to answer that." Church responded.

"Just get the fuck out of here before she realises you were here, and I'll forget anything happened." He sighed.

"Fine….dibs on the porn though!" _Typical._

"Fuck!" Church blurted out in aggravation.

Harper let out a sigh of relief after she heard both the men walk out of her room._ I hope he doesn't come back. Even if he does, I'll give him what's coming to him._

She climbed to her feet, still wary of any noises that should come from behind her door, and gingerly wandered over to where the shower head and controls and studied the various buttons and dials for a few minutes.

Before she began pressing buttons, she took a step left so that when she did find the right button, she wouldn't be sprayed with cold water. After a pressing a few buttons, she found the power button and at first only a few drops of water oozed out of the shower head, before it started to pound onto the bland tiles below. She waited until the shower was the right temperature until she got in and when she did, it was like liquid gold.

_I've missed showers like these. I could stay in here for eternity. Just need to keep an eye out._

Every few minutes she would turn around, listening and looking for any signs of someone behind the door.

It was a good half an hour before she got out of the shower. She pressed the power button and plodded her way towards the cupboard above the sink. She had a look inside for the towels and found only a couple of towels piled up. _Those will do_ _nicely. _

She picked up a towel, it felt rough and solid, but she had nothing else to use. She wrapped it around herself, the towel grazing her skin. She grabbed another towel and dried her hair with it a bit.

_Now, do I get dressed in here, or in the room? He might be waiting there for all I know._


End file.
